Canada's Joannie Rochette gets a hug from her dad, Normand, after winning the bronze medal in the women's Olympic figure-skating competition. (Amy Sancette/Associated Press)Canadian skater Joannie Rochette's bronze-medal performance in Vancouver is worth gold, say friends and family who cheered her on thousands of kilometres away in her hometown of Berthierville, Que.

Rochette, 24, thrilled the capacity crowd at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum on Thursday night with a courageous performance that put her on the podium just days after her mother's sudden death of a heart attack.

She ranked third after the preliminaries and was the second-last to skate in Thursday night's long program.

'I didn't know I could do it. I stepped on the ice, my legs were shaking, and I don't know how I went through this whole program. My mom was with me every step.'

— Bronze medallist Joannie Rochette

After declining to speak with any media all week, Rochette broke her silence after the competition to describe the experience.

"It was my goal coming here to be on that podium, and [despite] everything that happened, it was still my goal," she said Thursday night.

After the death of her mother, Thérèse Rochette, 55, early Sunday, winning a medal "was more my goal than ever," Rochette said.

"To tell you the truth, when I stepped on that ice, I didn't think about results," Rochette said of her feelings before skating her short program Tuesday. "I didn't think about anything. I didn't know I could do it.

"I stepped on the ice, my legs were shaking, and I don't know how I went through this whole program. My mom was with me every step."

Joannie Rochette's cousins Jonathan, centre, and Carinne Rochette, right, of Berthierville, Que., joined hundreds of supporters to watch the Olympian skate Thursday night. (Peter McCabe/Canadian Press)Friends and family who gathered in a reception hall in Berthierville to watch Thursday's final long program said they knew Rochette would bring home a medal for her mother.

More than 200 people crowded into the hall to watch the live television broadcast of the competition.

Rochette's week has been "a dream and a nightmare at the same time," said her cousin Carinne Rochette.

"It was her best performance ever on Tuesday," said another cousin, Jonathan Rochette, who calmed his nerves with frequent cigarette breaks outside the hall. "Thérèse was definitely there with her."

Rochette has decided to stay in Vancouver for a few more days, for media interviews and to take part in the skating gala on Saturday night. Her father is also staying for the time being, postponing funeral arrangements until their return to Quebec.

"I have peoples' support to live my Olympic experience right to the end," Rochette told The Canadian Press. "That's what my mother would have wanted. I know."

With files from The Canadian Press